Savitri, a story of the Power of Love that overcame Death for the purpose of Life
This is another important story that forms the basis of a strong Spiritual sense, that can have profound positive impact on our outer world. Focused on Love, we defend and uphold Life.
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Preface:
This is second in a series on a topic that is so vastly interwoven, that no one article could ever completely cover it. The Poetic Savitri; in my opinion, has everything in it a Spiritual Seeker, a Warrior for Truth, Life and Freedom, could ever need for their inner inquiries and outer works.
As a lifelong disciple of Sri Aurobindo, it is my view that our innermost perception of Self, is reflected in the World we can agree to create; what we can See and Know of our Self has profound foundational consequences for Civilization. There is no greater Ideal than that which is Lived. If Truth itself can be sought after and applied to life, then only Truth can manifest. By Seeing the Self in all Existences and all Existences within the Self, one can live with the perfect Knowledge.
In this article, I first cover the basic background and summary of Savitri, then towards the lower half, the Epic Poem of Sri Aurobindo, by providing commentary and selected verses from the poem itself.
I offer my special thanks to the following seers and authors for their dedication to Light and Truth that I have shared here:
Sri Aurobindo, my Guru Deva, Divine Teacher
Jyotipriya also known as Dr Judith Tyberg, Guru and Spiritual Mentor to my family.
Madhumita Dutta, a fellow disciple, whose writings I extensively cited.
RY Deshpande, whose basic summary I featured here.
Nitin Kumar, article on Savitri, the traditional story, from Exotic India website.
The Law of Death can be overcome by the Law of Immortality
Love is what Creates, it's what Sustains, it's what Fulfills and Liberates. Life emanates from it; Love is the goal of Being.
We are here by no accident, nor random happenstance. Life is deliberate, we choose to come here with the Immortal Will and Divine Force.
Sri Aurobindo explains this universal law of nature:
The whole process of the universe is in its very nature a sacrifice,… Self-fulfillment by self-immolation, to grow by giving is the universal law… It is only when the law is recognized and voluntarily accepted that this kingdom of death can be overpassed and by the works of sacrifice, Immortality made possible and attained.
[Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda: Agni, the Illumined Will]
Note: “Self-immolation” is a very intense way that Sri Aurobindo expresses the effects of Time on Life in a Physical sense. Time is like a slow Fire.
In a prior article titled Osiris, Isis and Horus -- Renewal, Love and Unity, I highlighted some of the many points of reference the story holds both Historically and Spiritually for the Ancient Egyptian Culture and how it formed a firm bedrock for a great civilization. True Civilization is what comes together spontaneously and voluntarily; naturally with Love at the center people can grow closer, anything else is nothing more than a glorified prison colony. True Unity in human terms can never be compelled.
In Egyptian terms, the focus on an afterlife instead of just the finality of death, is not just an exaltation and adoration of Life, it’s a recognition of the Divine source of it; seeing Life as supreme beyond Death, is an act of seeking Immortality.
Acknowledging the Divine within is also a recognition of the Naturally Sovereign Individual experience of the Life being lived. The Individual is no One and Innumerable, for he or she is as Sovereign in a physical Life as, the Divine origin of Life itself, which is Consciousness.
The Perfect Knowledge is that which Unites.
The Perfect Power is what upholds Life and defeats Death.
If Individual physical Life works towards this realization of Immortality, through Love; then any Culture of like Individuals together, can also work towards this realization through Righteousness and Lawfulness. In an Indian context, we can call this Dharma; this term encompasses a lot of meanings that would take an entire article to properly address, as it is interwoven into the culture in so many ways.
The Historic difference for India as opposed to Ancient Egypt is; that overall, it took a lot longer for the original culture to be overrun or significantly changed by invasion and infiltration from outside. This is could be due to geography being quite adverse to physical incursions; but more importantly, the natural condition of the native culture having the ability to keep absorbing whatever outside influences, managed to come through, yet manage to stay connected to the original ancient thread of meaning.
Hindu Culture has a steadfast sense of the Knowledge of One built into it, as well as the Language; and in my opinion, has maintained it’s fidelity to it’s earliest prehistoric origins. My impression here, is based on my study of Sanskrit.
The Basics; The Brahmic Idea, there is only ONE thing:
As I will cover in the repost of the article on Isha Upanishad, Sri Aurobindo states:
Brahman is one, not numerically, but in essence. Numerical oneness would either exclude multiplicity or would be a pluralistic and divisible oneness with the Many as its parts. That is not the unity of Brahman, which can neither be diminished nor increased, nor divided. [All is One]
Creation is not a making of something out of nothing nor of one thing out of another, but a self-projection of Brahman into the conditions of Space and Time. Creation is not a making, but a becoming in terms and forms of conscious existence. [All forms of this Creation are Sacred]
All Paths that lead to Light
The Hindu way of viewing Spiritual perception, is to see all paths that lead towards the Divine to be true paths; nothing can ever exist outside of the “Fullness.” Truth, such as this have had a profound influence for Indian Philosophy, these realizations are represented in the Veda and Upanishads; and expressed eloquently in the Story of Savitri. It’s no wonder that this story of Love conquering Death was also included into the Mahabharata.
As Madhumita Dutta, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo writes of Savitri:
As human, — Savitri shows the way to overcome mortality; as Divine, — she takes birth in the mortal plain to aid earth’s evolutionary adventure. These are the two movements of ascent and descent, the key concept in Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga. When through Yoga, man attains union with the Divine being, the conquest of Death becomes not only easy, but inevitable, for knowledge (that is identity with the Self) is Immortality. This is a clue taken from the Upanishads, which set out Immortality or Self-knowledge as the highest reachable goal. https://savitri.in/books/madhumita-dutta/savitri-a-study-in-style-and-symbolism
Sri Aurobindo on turning away from Death:
Man can only exceed the law of battle by discovering the greater law of his immortality. There are those who seek this where it always exists and must primarily be found, in the higher reaches of the pure spirit, and to find it turn away from a world governed by the law of Death. That is an individual solution which makes no difference to mankind and the world,…
[truth is what is lived, it transforms individually]
[Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita: The Vision of the World-Spirit - Time the Destroyer]
The Story of Savitri and Satyavan
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri_and_Satyavan
Introduction:
Savitri (Sanskrit: सावित्री, IAST: Sāvitrī ) and Satyavan (Sanskrit: सत्यवान, IAST: Satyavān) are a legendary couple. Savitri is a princess who marries an exiled prince named Satyavan, who is prophesied to die early. She saves her husband from the god of death, Yama, persuading the deity to restore his life.
The Ancient Tale of Savitri according to The Mahabharata
by RY Deshpande: https://savitri.in/books/ry-deshpande/the-ancient-tale-of-savitri-according-to-mahabharata
The story of Savitri is told in the Mahabharata to illustrate the power of woman’s chastity and devotion to her husband, and is called pativratā māhātmya. It appears as a minor episode, upākhyāna, in seven sections in Vana Parva, the Book of the Forest of the Great Epic. Rishi Markandeya narrates it to exiled Yudhishthira to console him out of his plight of melancholy, distressed as he was by the sufferings of Draupadi; the sage assures him that, in the manner of Savitri, she too will prove a saviour and fortune-bringer to the desolate Pandavas.
In Summary:
King Aswapati of Madra is issueless and performs, over a period of eighteen years, Savitri-Yajna and receives a boon of a radiant daughter from the Goddess. The girl grows into full and beautiful maidenhood in due time, but no noble prince of heroic valour approaches her to claim her in marriage. The King suggests to the Princess to seek a husband of her own choice, and she sets out on the missioned task, accompanied by the elderly counselors of the royal Court. Savitri travels to distant lands, and visits several ashramas, and holy shrines, and proud capital cities on river banks. She offers her prayers to the deities in pilgrim-centres, and gives away great charities to the learned and worthy ones as she moves in her quest from place to place.
Finally, she comes to the deep Shalwa Woods where she meets Satyavan and at once chooses him as her life’s partner, as does Satyavan too in regard of Savitri. In the meanwhile, sage Narad visits Aswapati and, as they are engaged in conversation, returns Savitri to the Palace after accomplishing her mission. On being asked by her father, Savitri discloses that it is in Satyavan that she has made her choice. But immediately Narad, as if to make it firmer, speaks of it as unfortunate; for, Satyavan is destined to die one year after the marriage. Aswapati advises his daughter to make another choice, but she is unswerving in her resolve. Savitri’s choice is made only once and not again. Narad sees and knows that her determination is in conformity with Dharma and that there is hence a heavenly sanction for it; he in fact blesses the marriage and wishes it to pass off without any ill-happening. Then Aswapati, following the age-old tradition, makes a formal proposal to Satyavan’s father Dyumatsena, and the wedding of Satyavan and Savitri is solemnised in the presence of the Rishis of the Forest.
One year is about to end, and Savitri is greatly afflicted when only four days are left in the life of her husband. She decides to undertake an austere vow of standing at a given place, continuously for three days, without taking food. On arrival of that fated day she worships the Fire-God and, after receiving benedictions from the elders, accompanies Satyavan to the wood where he has to go for his usual work. But, while engaged in the work, he suddenly feels tired and begins to perspire profusely. Savitri takes him in her lap and, as foretold by Narad, reckons the coming of the appointed moment.
Soon Savitri sees in front of her a bright God snatching the soul of Satyavan and carrying it away with him, even as he started moving in the southerly direction. Savitri follows him, and offers great eulogies.
Yama, the God of Death is easily subdued by Savitri’s ‘proper reasoning’, and he is unable to offer arguments against her knowledge. He is so impressed by Savitri’s virtue and devotion, that he readily grants her several boons, excluding, of course, ‘life for the dead’. He grants, according to Savitri’s wish, the recovery of both the lost eyesight and the lost kingdom of Satyavan’s father.
He also grants her own father the boon of a hundred sons. Then Yama asks her to return to her own world, forbidding her to adventure any further into Death’s realms. But Savitri refuses; her pursuit, and the dialogue continue—till, moved by her words, her ‘holy utterances’, Yama asks her to choose yet another boon. This time Savitri asks for the boon of a hundred sons for herself, by her union with Satyavan, “By our union, mine with Satyavan, let there be a hundred sons, noble and heroic in deed, well-born, extending the glory of the house; this is the fourth boon that I desire” (Vyasa Savitri 53-4).
This boon too is readily granted by Yama, who tells her to return to earth and not follow him any farther. But Savitri is not yet satisfied, she continues, both her pursuit and her argument,”… this boon which you have granted me is of a different kind than the earlier ones and it cannot get fulfilled without proper matrimony; that is why, again, I ask for the life of Satyavan, without whom as a husband I am as good as dead” (Vyasa’s Savitri 57).
-You have given me the boon of a hundred sons and you yourself are taking my husband away; for that reason I ask again the boon of life for Satyavan, by which your words shall come true” (Vyasa’s Savitri 57.).
Yama, unable to refute her arguments, can utter only these words, “Let it be so”. Saying this, he releases Satyavan’s soul, blesses them with a long and fruitful life and returns to his abode.
She convinces Yama, the God of Death to grant her a boon, which cannot be fulfilled without Satyavan’s physical life being restored.
The dialogue ends with Savitri’s victory over Fate, over Death. If we carefully follow Vyasa’s narrative, we see that Savitri neither coaxes nor tricks the God of Death to extract the final boon, (as has been grievously misinterpreted), but abides by the eternal ‘dharma’, upholds always the Law of Righteousness, and it is this that helps her achieve her difficult mission.
We may here recall Vyasa’s own words, “Holy people ever abide in the dharma,” or again, “By the Truth the saints lead the sun; by askesis the saints uphold the earth; … (Vyasa’s Savitri 55). This is the path of Truth that Savitri follows, which leads her in her quest, and not any intelligent play of words. Vyasa’s language here is plain enough and so is the message.
Released from Yama’s noose, Satyavan regains consciousness. Some may call this resurrection.
Returning to earth, the young couple realise that it has already grown dark in the evening. They decide to make haste, and get back to the hermitage where the elders must be waiting for them with all anxiety in their heart. In fact, Dyumatsena is very much disturbed and is appropriately consoled by the wise sages of the ashramas. Then, not too long after that, arrive at the premises Satyavan and Savitri, and there is great jubilation. On the insistence of Rishi Gautama, Savitri reveals to them the several details, beginning with Narad’s prophecy of Satyavan’s death on that particular day, Yama’s arrival and taking away his soul, and his granting her five boons, including a long life of four hundred years for Satyavan to live with her.
Madhumita Dutta writes in reference to Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri:
https://savitri.in/books/madhumita-dutta/savitri-a-study-in-style-and-symbolism
All principal characters in Savitri are charged with symbolic-evolutionary significance. In the Vedic roots of the Savitri legend, Sri Aurobindo found the key to the evolutionary goal of man, his final salvation. What Sri Aurobindo reads into the Vyasa legend is what he says himself at the beginning of the epic:
The tale of Satyavan and Savitri is recited in the Mahabharata as a story of conjugal love conquering death. But this legend is, as shown by many features of the human tale, one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle.
“Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance;
“Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save;”
“Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes;”
“Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss, its kingdom of glory.”
Still this is not a mere allegory, the characters are not personified qualities, but incarnations or emanations of living and conscious Forces with whom we can enter into concrete touch and they take human bodies in order to help man and show him the way from his mortal state to a divine consciousness and immortal life.
Sri Aurobindo, Savitri - I: The Tale of Satyavan and Savitri
A Commentary on Savitri — by: Jyotipriya
https://savitri.in/books/jyotipriya/a-summary-of-savitri
Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri is an epic poem of high spiritual challenge in the Yoga or Divine Union or Goal of Self-Realisation it presents. Its spiritual conception is so all-embracing, so integral that it gives birth to a power which transforms life on earth to a life of divine activity rather than leading to an escape from life.
The epic is a mantric expression of this great Seer-sage’s inner findings and conquests, leading to his vision of an age of truth-consciousness and immortality. It portrays in living drama the daring climb within, of a king-soul through progressive states of consciousness to Nirvanic heights and beyond, to summits never reached before.
The poet reveals how at meditation’s peaks at one with God, where many cease their search, he becomes aware of a Presence, God’s Consciousness, Power and Bliss, which he calls the Divine Mother.
He relates how this Creatrix of boundless Love and Wisdom-Splendor comes down to transform “Darkness into Light,” the “Unreal into the Real,” and “Death into Immortality.”
Jyotipriya brilliantly expresses a well known mantra in the above last line. As a reference, I placed the complete mantra below:
A personal note on Jyotipriya
Jyotipriya’s original name was Dr Judith Tyberg, she was the original founder of the East West Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California. She was a personal teacher and mentor to my father in the early 1970’s; later, she was like a family Guru. Here’s a link to her story of dedication to Spiritual Knowledge: https://ashramsofindia.com/judith-tyberg-jyotipriya/
Jyotipriya authored a few important books as companion to the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. She had focused her research and study in Linguistics in her early years; of Sanskrit and of Ancient Egyptian, as I do these days. Two of her books I have are:
First Lessons in Sanskrit Grammar and Reading — please follow one of these links to access this book: https://archive.org/details/firstlessonsinsa0000tybe_z5o5 AND https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3738683&seq=1 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=First+Lessons+in+Sanskrit+Grammar+and+Reading&i=stripbooks&crid=3JPIZOHEH5XOO&sprefix=first+lessons+in+sanskrit+grammar+and+reading%2Cstripbooks%2C140&ref=nb_sb_noss
Language of the Gods — Please follow one of these links to access this book if interested: https://www.amazon.com/Language-Gods-Judith-Tyberg/dp/0930736001 Or: https://www.lotuspress.com/products/language-of-the-gods-the-ebook-984185?srsltid=AfmBOorTGWjwT54-Npbiy91tGcGDSfDLG_bYXpf8MA8Bvj6PUj9AMDvB
Other Presentations of Savitri:
The Story of Savitri: The True Essence of Love and Friendship
Article of the Month - Oct 2013 / This article by Nitin Kumar
This is another more traditional presentation of Savitri and cites many sources, for anyone interested here is a link: https://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/savitri-and-satyavan/
Within Savitri, that which holds All of Light; All is possible, Standing Deathless with Truth, the many Worlds are Born
Name Etymologies for Savitri and related names:
Savitri:
Derived from Sanskrit, the name is composed of two elements: savit meaning sun and ri meaning possessing or of. Thus, Savitri translates to Of the Sun or Possessing the qualities of the Sun. In Hindu mythology, Savitri is revered as the daughter of the Sun god and the epitome of purity, devotion, and strength.
[In a more direct sense, Savitri is the force of Light]
Root and Meaning:
Savitṛ (Sanskrit: सवितृ IAST: Savitṛ, nominative singular: सविता IAST: Savitā, also rendered as Savitur), in Vedic scriptures is an Aditya (i.e., an "offspring") of the Vedic primeval mother goddess Aditi. This name in Vedic Sanskrit connotes "impeller, rouser, vivifier." —— [To vivify is to bring life]
Satyavan root and Meaning:
The name Satyavan, of Sanskrit origin is composed of two elements: "Satya," meaning "truth" or "reality," and "van," meaning "possessor" or "one who has." Therefore, the name Satyavan can be interpreted as "one who possesses truth" or "one who is devoted to truth."
[In a more direct sense, Satyavan is the presence of Truth]
Truth and Light are the force of Life.
Poetic Savitri — A Legend and a Symbol
Sri Aurobindo wrote an Epic Poem on Savitri for those who are interested; here is a link for download: https://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/sriaurobindo/downloadpdf.php?id=43
Basic description of the Poetic Savitri:
Sri Aurobindo's major poetic work, an epic in blank verse.
In Savitri, a legend from the Mahabharata becomes the symbol of the human soul's spiritual destiny. In poetic language, Sri Aurobindo describes his vision of existence and explores the reason for ignorance, darkness, suffering and pain, the purpose of life on earth and the prospect of a glorious future for humanity. The writing of the epic extended over much of the later part of his life.
Sri Aurobindo’s Poem, Savitri combines more than just the original framework of Sage Vyasa’s story:
In his work, Sri Aurobindo began creating this poetic narration to express the deeper points from the original story as given by Vyasa. In the earliest draft version, Savitri was only about 800 lines or so. Eventually, this epic became quite large, yet it maintained the essence that it had started with. From 1916, this poem evolved to embody much of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic experience, inner transformations of Sight that cannot be written or expressed in regular writing styles. The origin of poetic rhythm and harmony is thought to be of far more intuitive substance than our regular intellectual mind.
Madhumita Dutta explains the development of the Poetic Savitri:
As has been pointed out before, two major reasons for the birth of Savitri [as a poetic work] were Sri Aurobindo’s rediscovery of the significance of the Savitri legend and the need to record his own experiences in the progress of his Yoga.
The Vyasa legend formed the groundwork or the basic structure upon which was built the grand super-structure of the epic, and Sri Aurobindo’s own Yoga provided the narrative with its philosophical contents.
Sri Aurobindo was preoccupied with the idea of freedom, ever since his days in England; in later years this ideal transformed into the all-encompassing vision of Man’s freedom from his mortal bondages, which became synonymous with the idea of Immortality.
Love, Death and Immortality were at the core of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy as these are interrelated. The Vyasa legend and epic possibilities of this symbolic story held spiritual significance for Sri Aurobindo.
There are definite links between Savitri and the Isha Upanishad, as well as many other great works of the Vedas, as stated by Madhumita Dutta:
Intense study of the Vedas and ancient scriptures and exploration of the depths of Indian culture led the him to link the Mahabharata legend to the myths of the Vedic cycle. [This includes the Upanishads]
Sri Aurobindo first read the ‘English translations of the Upanishads while in England, just before returning to India. He wrote later that they were ‘the first Indian writings that ‘took hold of me’ and ‘raised in me a strong enthusiasm’. Upon his return to India he learnt Sanskrit and not only read the Upanishads in original but translated them also with extensive commentaries on the Upanishadic philosophy.
He was acquainted with Sanskrit literature even before his coming to Pondichery, but it was a deeper search and plunge into the heart of Vedic literature which contributed to the symbolic interpretation of the Savitri legend in which he discovered the ideal of the age-old aspiration of humanity for immortality.
He also read into the ancient tale the story of the all-transforming power of love, with its potential to bring about the union of Heaven and Earth, Spirit and Matter.
Madhumita Dutta’s excerpts from the original poem:
The 1916 version already contains the kernel of the present epic. Here are some lines from the earliest version, extracts from the colloquy of Savithri, (as it was then spelt)
The God of Death:
Then Death cried high,—a vaguer, brighter form
He bore now like a light that smiles at dawn:
“Because thou knowst the wisdom that transcends
Both veil of forms and the contempt of forms,
Arise delivered by the seeing gods.
Rest in thy freedom satisfied alone
Nor seek for others’ joy they have not won:
…
Touch not the ancient lines, the seated laws,
Respect the calm of great established things.”(Mother India 34.1.5)
Savitri’s reply to the God of Death:
“What is the calm thou vauntst, O Law, O Death?
I trample on thy law with living feet
For to arise in freedom I was born.
…
I ask not, I demand, O gods of Time,
My will immortal.(Mother India 34.1.5)
Even here Savitri speaks as the apostle of freedom, daring to defy the fixed laws. The only boon that satisfies her is that which can change the destiny of the Earth. This is reflected in her reply to the god of Death, which embodies the poet’s earliest ideal of transformation of man and earth-nature.
When Death persuades her to leave Satyavan in the realm of the dead, she replies:
… “Thy gifts resist.
Earth cannot flower if lonely I return.”
…
“Give me back Satyavan, my only Lord.
…
For now at last I know beyond all doubt,
The great stars burn with my unceasing fire
And life and death are both its fuel made.
Life only was my blind attempt to love;
Earth was its struggle, heaven its increase,
And when transcended both shall join and kiss
Casting their veils before the marriage fire
Earth shall seize all that heaven strives to give
Nor anything be lost the soul has seen.(Mother India 34.1.6)
This is Death’s reply, when he finally yields:
Because thou hast rejected my great calm
I lay upon thy neck my mighty yoke
…
From thy beginning in earth’s voiceless bosom
Through life and pain and time and will and death,
I have led thee onward to the golden point,
From which another sweeter gyre shall start.(Mother India 34.2.81-2)
This certainly announces the coming of a new age, the birth of a divinized earth. The epilogue, spoken by Savitri, depicts the happy consummation of the divine love and joy, which is shared by all:
No gladness lost, no depth of mortal joy;
Divinely: Let us go through this new world
Which is the same, for it is given back
And it is known, a playing ground of God
Who hides himself in bird and beast and man
Sweetly to find Himself again by love,
By oneness. His presence leads the rhythms of life.
Now grief is dead and serene bliss remains.
…
Let us give joy to all, for joy is ours!(Mother India 34.2.84)
Yoga of Aswapati, father of Savitri
As indicated above, Aswapati is known as “Lord of the Horse,” and Lord of Tapasya, his symbolism is the concentrated sense of Sadhana or Spiritual Discipline. His character is placed at the center of Man’s determination to seek focus on the inner most part of Being and has the greatest impetus to rise from the base human mentality, to establish a firm equal mindedness. Sri Aurobindo uses the symbolic essence of Aswapati in the story of Savitri to reflect on the deep actual experiences of his yogic progression. In this way, Sri Aurobindo also works into the blank verse of Savitri, the essence of the deeper meanings found in the Isha Upanishad.
Aswapathy’s Yoga falls into three parts:
First, he is achieving his own spiritual self-fulfillment as the individual and this is described as the Yoga of the King.
[Not just for a “King” but for inner Individual Sovereign awareness]
Next, he makes the ascent as a typical representative of the race to win the possibility of discovery and possession of all the planes of consciousness and this is described in the Second Book: but this too is as yet only an individual victory.
Finally, he aspires no longer for himself but for all, for a universal realization and new creation. That is described in the Book of the Divine Mother.
[Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Poetry and Art: General Comments on some Criticisms of the Poem]
Aswapati journeys farther, and reaches a ‘formless’ and ‘signless’ world, a silent, nameless realm. Here his experience is of the ‘Oneness’ of all things in the universe:
There all the truths unite in a single truth,
And all ideas rejoin Reality. ||6.46||
…
The boundless with the boundless there consorts;
While there, one can be wider than the world;
While there, one is one’s own infinity. ||6.49||
His centre was no more in earthly mind, ||6.50||
Aswapati’s experience of Brahman
Aswapati’s first [realization], his release from ignorance of the mind, is only a preface of the epic climb. The realization of his self leads to expansion of his soul; he grows conscious of a vaster Self, the Witness Self within. His ‘small bodily ego thins and falls’ and he becomes one with Nature and God. As the doors of a ‘wider consciousness’ are opened, Aswapati begins to possess a higher knowledge which makes him perceive the many errors of the human mind. He begins to realize that all apparent dualities—Nature and Soul, Purusha and Prakriti, Creator and the Creation—are two faces of One Reality and can be reconciled into one harmonious whole:
He is the Maker and the world he made,
He is the vision and he is the seer;
He is himself the actor and the act,
He is himself the knower and the known,
He is himself the dreamer and the dream. ||13.8||
This perspective is much like how the Isha Upanishad describes the Oneness of Brahman. One coming from Oneness, or as I state in the repost article of Isha: Absolute Oneness; the One within Many; that Wholeness of One within the Infinity of Uniqueness.
Madhumita Dutta; on the Manifestation of the Universe:
Arriving on the shoreless infinite, beyond the world of rigid forms and signs, Aswapati realizes that this universe is the result of a stupendous force; it is not a meaningless mechanism, but the manifestation of God. The concept of the universe as ‘manifestation’ and not ‘creation’ is a curiously Indian idea, owing its origin to the Vedic-Upanishadic philosophy which holds ‘Brahman’ as the one underlying Reality. Sri Aurobindo says, “… since all is Brahman, phenomena and manifestation must be the same thing …”
[Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine - I: Reality and the Cosmic Illusion]
Indian philosophy has always believed in the idea of a ‘cause’ before the ‘ effect’; the idea that something can be created out nothing, is absurd. Vedantic cosmology holds that in the beginning there was only One Unmanifest, and that was when the three ‘forces’ or ‘energies’ of Nature were in harmony. These forces are those of ‘Sattwa’, ‘Rajas’ and ‘Tamas’.
[This assumes that time is sequential, from our perspective]
As I state in my next article on Isha Upanishad (repost):
Symbolically, they are also Energy, Frequency, Vibration within Ether, which is Time, also known as Kala.
Generally, Kala is a word which actually carries the meaning of both Time and Space together, which is Eternity.
Additionally, Kala is a Masculine aspect of which Kali is a Feminine aspect. Kala is perfectly still, it is Present. Kali is movement, her bending to a curve, is thought to create Gravity, which is primary to Manifestation.
Think of that as an esoteric way to express exoteric conditions that science still has no true definition for. From a perspective of fullness of Knowledge, we are to Sequential Time / Space as a fish in the ocean is to water, we don’t yet realize how we are wet.
Madhumita Dutta continues:
Manifestation takes place only when the equilibrium [between forces] is disturbed. (These are ‘energies’ or ‘qualities’ with which Nature or Prakriti is composed. As long as they are in equilibrium, Prakriti remains undifferentiated, in a potential form.
When the balance is disturbed, and the three Gunas enter into various combinations, we have the differentiated phenomena of the universe. Of the three Gunas or forces of Nature, Sattwa symbolizes the pure and the good, Rajas is the principle of action, while Tamas stands for inertia. Or, in other words, Sattwa is the ‘essence’, Tamas is the ‘obstacle to the realisation of the essence’, and Rajas, the power by which the obstacle is removed. That is the basis of Vedic cosmology and psychology). The Vedanta wholly denies anything called ‘creation’ out of absolute nothingness.
In the Mundaka Upanishad there is a beautiful analogy explaining this theory (of the manifestation of Brahman):
Just as the spider brings out its web from within its own body, and again takes it back within itself, so, this world arises from aksara Brahman, the eternal Brahman. (1.1.7)
The Upanishad also declares:
Like from a fire a thousand sparks arise, similarly diverse beings arise from Brahman and also dissolve in that. (2.1.1)
The truths of these spiritual experiences are [considered] scientific facts now. That the universe is one single chain of continuity is a claim made by science too. Through Yoga, Sri Aurobindo came to perceive that:
“… the universe is based on the simultaneous existence of contradictions covering the same time, place and circumstances. The elementary conception that God is at once One and Many, Finite and Infinite, Formed and Formless and that each attribute is the condition of the existence of its opposite, is a thing metaphysical logic has been boggling over ever since the reign of reason began.”
[That is Within all This; That is Outside all This; once having taken a piece of the Fullness from the Fullness, the Fullness verily remains. — Isha Upanishad ]
[Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine and Human: Philosophy]
However, with the advent of quantum theory, science has been steadily approaching the conclusion of the Vedantic doctrine of ‘Reality’ as being essentially One. This idea finds poetical expression in the realizations of Aswapati, as he advances in Yoga:
He lives in all, who lived in his Vast alone;
Space is himself and Time is only he. ||15.8||
The Absolute, the Perfect, the Immune. ||15.9||
*****
As a Conclusion, at least for this article
Much of Sri Aurobindo’s voluminous writings are quite complex and thoroughly detailed; his poetic work, Savitri is possibly one of his greatest works of all. Having a manner of expression to place yogic spiritual experience directly in front of others without the usual constraints of the intellectual process; has maximum potential for the seeker and seer alike. The only limitations that are present, in my view are the inner conditions of the individual; for some, myself included The Poetic Savitri is an extremely powerful, inspiring source of reflection. When taken with my own experiences, it builds a sense of the most integral way of seeing the world we are creating at every moment. This is because there is nothing outside of the Self within. Not all readers may develop a full appreciation for Savitri or the Isha Upanishad as I have and that’s alright, it’s my offering to all who are willing to study it.
I do not present this material for the purpose of asking others to simply “jump in” or “join me.” I encourage others to explore the concepts for themselves individually, this is not a club or religion. Each person will get something unique from these Vedantic concepts.
A Sovereign Self can defeat the Falsehood of Seated Laws
The principles of these and other great works are what forms the strong basis for what I often refer to as the Individual Freedom movement going on today. It is completely foundational to my concept of Individual Sovereignty. The message of Savitri, Isha Upanishad and the Bhagavad Gita are in my opinion, both needed and beneficial to find proper solutions to our present conflicts.
The most Important Link:
For the complete page from where I cite many of Madhumita Dutta’s analysis on Savitri, please see the following link: https://savitri.in/books/madhumita-dutta/savitri-a-study-in-style-and-symbolism This is the most thorough site on Savitri that I have ever found. The link leads to a very long, very detailed article and discussion on the many facets of Sri Aurobindo’s work.
My next article will be the Reposting of the Isha Upanishad.
A mind blowing research!
How to delve in the spirituality, while being in time captured by communist Kamala's reality??
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